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Gantzdvd1

Cover from the first Gantz released by ADV Films

The anime series Gantz is an adaptation from the manga with the same name written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku. The series, produced by Gonzo and directed by Ichiro Itano, aired in Japan on Fuji Television and AT-X.[1][2][3] Gantz tells the story of a teenager named Kei Kurono who dies in a train accident and becomes part of a semi-posthumous "game" in which he and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens hidden in Japan.

Two musical pieces are used through the series: the opening theme, "Super Shooter" by Rip Slyme, and the ending theme, "Last Kiss" by Bonnie Pink. The Gantz anime is divided into two seasons: The first season is known as "The First Stage", while the second season is known as "The Second Stage", which is a direct continuation of the first season. The First Stage aired in Japan with several scenes censored due to inappropriate content such as violence or nudity. However, the DVDs from the series contained the scenes uncensored.[4] The Second Stage aired on Japanese network AT-X on August 26, 2004.[5] There are a total of 12 Japanese DVDs, released from August 28, 2004 to June 29, 2005. Additionally, the DVDs were compillated into box sets.[6]

In 2004 ADV Films announced that they had licensed the Gantz anime series and would release it on DVD uncensored.[7] The series was initially released in a 2 episode per disc format spanning 10 volumes, before later being released in various boxset forms. In June 25, 2010 at the Funicon 4.0, Funimation announced that they had license rescued Gantz for release in the North American market in 2011.[8]

Episode list[]

Season 1[]

# Title Original air date
1 "It's the Beginning of a Brand New Day" "Atarashī Asa ga Kita" (新しい朝が来た) April 12, 2004

Kei Kurono: an apathetic, self-centered teenager is on his way home when he crosses paths with Masaru Katou, an old childhood friend. When a homeless man accidentally falls onto the tracks of the subway, the pair climb down to help. They save the homeless man, but are unable to get back up in time, and are gruesomely killed by the express train. They find themselves transported to a room centered around a black ball with other people who have recently died: a school teacher, a dog, a politician, a regular guy, two yakuza gang members and a mysterious young 8th-Grader named Nishi. Before long an attractive, naked girl is transferred into the room, and is almost the victim of rape from one of the yakuzas, before Katou stops them. Her name is Kei Kishimoto.

2 "They Aren't Human" "Ningen Janee" (人間じゃねぇ) April 19, 2004

The Black ball suddenly starts playing a 1940s radio exercise tune, interrupting Katou and the Yakuza fighting. The globe tells them to kill Neigi Seijin (green onion alien). The globe opens up revealing guns and suits. Some of the men take some guns but everyone ignores the suits, except Kurono who puts one on. Everyone is transferred out into Tokyo to participate in this deadly "game". The old politician wanders off deciding to go home, but his head explodes when he gets too far away. Nishi shows everyone the radar screen on his controller, and convinces everyone into believing there is a reward for killing the alien. Most people go off with him. Only Kei Kurono, Masaru Kato, and Kei Kishimoto go off on their own trying to find a way home. Kato later decides to go and join the rest, leaving Kurono to walk Kishimoto home. The Yakuzas, schoolteacher and nameless man find and kill 'Neigi Seijin' quite easily as its boy-sized. Then its father shows up.

3 Kei, You're Awesome!" "Kei-chan, suggee" (計ちゃん、すっげえ) April 19, 2004

The big Neigi Seijin rapidly kills the four men while an unseen figure laughs as the schoolteacher accidentally shoots the Yakuza being held by Neigi Seijin. With only three people left, the alien attacks Katou who dives over a steep hill after finding he can't shoot the alien. It chases the other two and Kei jumps over a slope and finds the suit allows him to jump further and survive. The alien rolls down the hill, and badly wounds Katou with his nails, angering Kei so much that he finds the suit makes him strong enough to beat him. The unseen figure fires a belt that ties the alien up, Nishi appears out of nowhere and urges Kei to shoot the alien.

4 "OK, Here Are Your Scores" "Sore ji wa, chiiten wo hajinuru" (それぢわ、 ちいてんをはじぬる) April 27, 2004

Not being able to shoot the alien, Kurono drops his gun. Thus, Nishi takes the points and finishes it. Nishi says that anyone still alive can return home fully recovered. Kurono and the girl look to Katou, who is near death. They try to wake him up so that he can return. He just survives. Back in the room the scores are revealed-Nishi got three giving him 90 points, the others get nothing. Nishi explains he has been coming to the room for a long time, that it makes fax copies of people just before they die. They turn on him asking why he didn't tell anyone this earlier, he replies it's better this way because the target drops his guard. He makes himself invisible before vanishing and walking off. In the morning Kei wakes up to find the suit in his wardrobe-it was no dream!.

5 "Then That Means, at That Time..." "Tteiukoto wa ano toki" (っていうことは あの時) May 4, 2004

Having finished with the first round, Kei, Kato, and the girl take a taxi home from the apartment - the girl, when dropped off, reveals her name to be Kei Kishimoto. Kei (Kurono) goes to school the next day with the suit he wore home, and after getting sold out by his "friend" to a group of coercive thugs, he resists them, eventually powering up his suit by imagining Kishimoto's naked body, and trashes the boss. At the same time, Katou's lifestyle is revealed, with both his brother and him living with an abusive, uncharitable aunt. On the other hand, Kishimoto tries to go home, and discovers that she did not actually die, and is a duplicate without a place to return to - by the end of the episode, she is found by Kurono, waiting for him outside his apartment, asleep.

6 "All Right!" "Yattaaaaa" (やったああああっ) May 11, 2004

Kishimoto spends some time with Kei, and after trying to leave, frantically asks him to keep her "as a pet". He accepts her, ecstatic about the prospects of finally getting some action. After going through the trouble of buying condoms while she showered, and getting them to sleep in the bed together, Kishimoto stops him, citing her current emotional troubles, and he leaves her be. Elsewhere, Katou finds out that his little brother is being physically abused by their aunt. Also, two groups of new characters are introduced: Tetsu, a biker who is married and has a child but still goes riding with his gang, and Ryouta and his grandmother, a spoiled selfish kid and his protective doting grandmother.

7 "We're After You" "Neratteruze" (狙ってるぜ) May 18, 2004

We see Katou and his younger brother being denied food from their aunt. When he asks for food, she attempts to hit him, but he stops her arm and takes a stand against her. He asks if his younger brother can have food, and that she needs to stop hitting him. When taking him to school, Katou reflects upon this and still maintains that he is a terrible brother. Kei and Kishimoto visit a local shop, wherein Kishimoto asks Kei to buy a lot of food. She continues to claim that she doesn't deserve any of it as she is still his 'pet', but he tells her that he doesn't mind and goes to buy the food at the checkout. To his surprise, the woman at the checkout is the same woman as the one who appeared in the first episode asking him which way a certain station was, just before his accident with the train. In shock, he runs out of the shop without paying. Back at his apartment, Kishimoto asks Kei about school, regretting the fact that she cannot go to school. She asks him if she could meet him on the way home to see her old home one last time, and Kei agrees. Katou, meanwhile, stands up against some bullies at school who are picking on a friend of his. We see the bullies plan to beat up Katou after school, with a much bigger, older bully also appearing. He expresses his intent to rape him rather than beat him up. Katou is told by a classmate of this plot, and he chooses to meet him directly, walking right into the toilets and beating up the much larger bully. While doing so, he imagines the face of his aunt in his place, venting his anger. In a book shop, we are introduced to Hojo, an attractive young man who is apparently being stalked by a mysterious girl. Kei accompanies Kishimoto to her former home, and she cries as she sees that Nishi was telling the truth; their former real-world positions have been replaced.

8 "Uh-oh!" "Yabee!" (やべぇ!) May 25, 2004

Kishimoto gets over her shock and decides to lead her life how she, not her mum wants. She declares her love for Katou. Tetsu, Haruya, Kinji and Kosuke are all lured to a spot by a text from a woman-a trap laid by a rival biker gang, all four are killed. Hojo realizes too late the girl he is carrying is actually the stalker, he angrily tells her to get off his bike. Next to them on the road are Ryouta and his grandmother. All four are killed suddenly by a drunk lorry driver asleep at the wheel. All 13 players are transported to the room. Katou tries to explain what is happening, infuriating Nishi. The globe tells them to kill Suzuki-Seijin, a humanoid figure that likes sweets and birds. {C Kei realizes to his horror that he has left his suit behind.

9 "Kill It There!" "Sokkō Korosu!" (ソッコー殺す!) June 1, 2004

Kei-chan tries repeatedly to tell Katou he's left his suit behind but he's too busy trying to convince the others about the suits' power. Eventually everyone's wearing a suit except Kei and the three underling bikers. Nishi laughs at Kei when he guesses the truth. He tells them someone else's suit would be no better than ordinary clothes. He then starts taunting everyone in the room about their hang-ups and how they will fail and how there are no leaders in the game-just competitors. One of the bikers, Kosuke, loses his temper and fires at Nishi. The gun appears to have no effect, Kosuke prepares to hit Nishi who fires at him. His head blows off, they are transported immediately. Kei finds himself alone on a street with a robot-like figure approaching...

10 "Yuuzou-kun?" "Yūzō-kun?" (裕三君?) June 8, 2004

Kurono, without a suit, follows the Suzuki alien (which repeatedly says "Yuzo-kun?")until he makes it mad by flicking one of its birds off his shoulder, then leads it to the others. Nishi and the alien face off in a canal. First, his invisibility device breaks, then the alien throws his gun out of his hands. Eventually, Nishi's suit fails, he screams for help but the bikers refuse as Nishi won't apologize for blowing Kosuke's head off. Katou jumps down eventually as he knows Nishi to be the only one who can explain Gantz to them.

11 "I Can't Shoot Him" "Aitsu wa Utenai" (あいつは撃てない) June 8, 2004

Katou swims towards Nishi, too late. Suzuki screams in Nishi's ear till his eyes explode and he hemorrhages. Nishi screams for someone to kill the alien. Katou loses his gun, then bear-hugs the alien underwater before its outer casing comes apart revealing a giant bird. Kei-chan fires and sends it into space. Meanwhile, Kinji's head blows off when he tries to leave the perimeter, Haruya, the boy and grandmother flee back to the canal. Nishi asks Gantz to hurry up and transport them before he dies. He reveals that people need 100 points to escape Gantz and begs his mother to forgive him for only collecting 90. He dies.

12 "Please stay here, Kato-kun" "Katō-kun wa Matteite" (加藤くんは待っていて) June 15, 2004

The team splits. Katou, Kishimoto and Hojo go after the other Suzuki aliens. Kurono, Testu & Haruya find the rest. {C Katou finds not one but five Suzuki-Seijin. Kishimoto shoots one and it explodes. Katou and Hojo kill with the bear-hugging method. Katou's suit runs out of power.One of the birds tries to clamber back into its humanoid shell but suffocates. The two remaining aliens fly away and find Ryouta and his grandmother, mercilessly killing them. Meanwhile Haruya has taken Kei and Tetsu hostage, forcing him into a building where six Suzuki and the boss, a giant bird are hiding.

13 "Please Die..." "Shinde Kudachī" (死んで下ちい) June 22, 2004

Hojo and Kishimoto kill the two remaining Suzuki. {C Kei tries to approach the boss stealthily but trends on a fledgling, the six Suzuki faces go from smiles to horrible snarls. The boss emerges, Kei threatens to shoot it, the Suzuki all start screaming which makes Kei start shooting at them. He misses but all of his shots cause the roof cave in. All the survivors arrive outside, Kei is jubilant, until the boss emerges from the rubble, grabbing Haruya and tearing his head off. The boss turns on Kei, the others urge him to run. Kei's voice suddenly becomes calm, he says he's tired of running away all the time and is going to kill the boss. He fires and misses, the boss grabs him by the arm and flies high. Kei grabs hold of some pipes from the bird's mouth, it starts falling eventually dropping Kei who manages to blow its head off before falling. Back in the room, Katou gets five points, Hojo (nicknamed Homo by Gantz) and Kishimoto get ten each while Kei gets 38, the most of anybody thus far.

Season 2[]

# Title Original air date
14 "Goodbye..." "Sayōnara" (さようなら) August 26, 2004

Katou stands up to his aunt for beating his brother and moves out. Kishimoto leaves Kurono because he grows tired of her using him and going on about Kato. Tetsu uses his gun to kill a man he is in debt to. His wife tells him he has no job and she is suspicious he is having an affair as his phone was off the night before. In the heat of the argument he nearly shoots her. Later he confronts the gang that killed him, he shouts "What's it all about Gantz!" (whose name is forbidden outside the game) upon which his head explodes just as his wife phones to tell him she is finally breastfeeding.

15 "Go Fast!" "Hayaku Ikitee!" (早くイキてぇっ!) September 2, 2004

Kishimoto's reduced to scavenging in McDonald's while Kei answers his door to the old lady. Kei is transported in his suit to the room with nine new people. A Buddhist priest dominates the situation, telling everyone the room is a meeting place between heaven and hell and everyone starts praying. Jealous of Katou, Kei goes to the side room and cries, a woman called Sakuraoka comforts him, asks if there is anything she can do, upon which Kei asks for sex—she agrees. The globe tells them to kill a rowdy and grumpy alien, they appear to be red and green temple guards. Kishimoto catches Sakuraoka and Kei as she is running to get changed.

16 "It's Me!" "Ore ga yaru!" (俺がやる!) September 9, 2004

The six survivors are all suited, Sakuraoka and Mirafuji (a slightly geeky young man, never convinced he was dead) also put them on. Two men are convinced by a show of strength from Katou to bring their suits with them. As they are beamed out one by one, Kishimoto notices they have 1½ hours instead of just 1. The priest shouts at each person that they're being sent to hell for accepting the guns and suits (symbols of war) until he is on his own when he cries and wails till he is transported. The players are outside Ratein temple. One of the players wanders off trying to get home-his head explodes. A man, Kajimura Ryuji and teenager, Muroto Hajime are at the back of the temple discussing who they are going to beat up and what tune they'll sing-they choose the same song that Gantz plays. Looking through the X-gun, they see to their horror the two giant statues at the temple entrance have bones. Kei smashes the door, the statues come to life.

17 "Is It OK to Shoot Them?" "Koitsura utte iin'daro?" (こいつら撃っていいんだろ?) September 16, 2004

Kei tries to shoot one of the aliens, but it dodges the blast and destroys a temple wall. The Buddhist priest tries to escape, but is killed by the red alien. The homeless man that Kei and Katou saved at the subway is seen by the singing "hobo hunters" and wanders his way into the temple where the aliens and players are. The green alien tries tries to attack Katou, but Kei shoots and kills it at the same time as the "hobo hunters" kill the homeless man.

18 ""Welcome Back" "Okaeri" (おかえり) September 23, 2004

The team, invigorated by Kei's victory, go after the red statue. Three people rush it, but Kei darts past all of them to get to it first. The red statue appears to be significantly more powerful than the green statue. Kei takes out one of its legs, but it remains standing. He jumps onto one of it's arms and blasts it off as the team watch in awe. The red statue grabs Kei with its other remaining hand as he jumps off the arm he just destroyed and tries to crush him in its hand. The team do little but watch as is tries to kill Kei - all except for one man, a sniper on the roof, who shoots first its head and then the arm holding Kei. The man had lied in wait, forgotten until this moment, but Kei is free thanks to him. Mirafuji blasts away at the dead alien, laughing as he does so, and the team regard him with disgust. Sakuraoka welcomes Kei back and asks him if he will go out with her once they are back. With a quick glance at Kishimoto, he agrees somewhat unenthusiastically. He then begins to get annoyed at the rest of the team holding him in such high regard. Meanwhile, two other men from the team leave the temple area to see another smaller statue jump down from a rooftop. One man attempts to take it on while the other watches, and the dog who followed them through barks and alerts the others to its presence as many more statues begin to emerge.

19 "What the Hell is This?" "Nanja, Aryaaa" (なんじゃ、ありゃあっ) September 30, 2004

While some of the team fight off the smaller statues, a colossal statue emerges from the temple building. The team attempt to shoot it, but their bullets have little effect. Without warning, a woman (who Kei identifies as his teacher) and a man appear and inadvertently step right into the path of the colossal statue - Katou, Kishimoto, Hojo and his stalker (whom Gantz nicknamed 'Sadako') all work to stop the statue's foot crushing the pair as they talk. They eventually leave and all four manage to avoid being crushed. Kei shoots the statue in the head, leaving a gaping hole. He then proceeds to launch himself inside, killing it internally. He does so and the statue crashes to the ground, and out crawls Kei from its mouth.

20 "Shoot Me!" "Ore wo Utee" (俺を撃てっ!) October 7, 2004

Katou's group stumble upon the dead homeless men. He breaks down, questioning even wanting to return home if the world is so cruel. Kei tells him that he is the one who wanted to go home more than anyone because of his brother. The group chase after a statue of incredible speed, but the kill is delivered once again by the sniper on the roof. Meanwhile, Hojo's group stumble upon a much larger group of aliens. The martial artist is killed fighting one of them, while the other two non-suited men run off to tell the Katou's group to come and help. Once they arrive at the scene, they find Hojo and Sadako dead, their torsos cut off from their bodies. They spent their last moments together and had shared a kiss before dying. Katou rushes in and would have suffered a similar fate, but Kishimoto jumps in front of Katou and takes the force of an acid attack aimed at Katou. Kishimoto dies shielding Katou, which enrages Kei to attack the remaining statues. Kei shoots the golden statue with many arms but it heals itself and attacks Kei, burning an arm and a leg away. Sakuraoka picks up Kei and flees with Katou. After a successful retreat, Kei asks Katou to shoot him because of the pain.

21 "Brother?" "Onii-chan?" (兄ちゃん?) October 14, 2004

Katou shoots Kei's leg where it continued to corrode. This stops the corrosion, but Kei is still immobile. The two men who fled the temple earlier now attempt to attack the statue, but it easily kills them both. The sniper repeatedly shoots the limbs of the statue, but it continues to regenerate. It retaliates by firing laser beams at him, one of which hits him and kills him. Sakuraoka stands by Kei and defends him from the statue as it comes to attack him, kicking the bucket of acid it throws back at him, burning half of its body so it cannot regenerate. The statue uses its laser beams once again, which kills Sakuraoka just as she thinks she has beaten it. The statue leaves Kei alone and now goes after Katou, who manages to entangle it with the trap gun. When he attempts to beams it away, it evacuates its shell and emerges as a green alien with many arms, all of which mercilessly punch Katou. It thinks it has won, but Katou grabs the alien's sword that Sakuraoka had knocked out of its hand earlier. He then cuts off its limbs and finally its head, killing it. The headless alien, however, with a flick of its tail, pierces Katou in the heart, killing him. Kei alone is transported back into the room, crying for his lost friends. He scores only a measly 8 points despite all his hardships, bringing his total up to 46. He pays it no heed however, as he demands Gantz bring everyone back in frustration. Gantz, of course, ignores him. Kei leaves the room completely alone.

22 "Don't Ever Say That Again!" "Nido to iu na!" (二度と言うな!) October 21, 2004

Having barely survived the last mission, Kurono is drawn back in a few weeks later. This time the players are people who have all been either directly or indirectly involved in Kurono's life as from the beginning of series 1. They introduce themselves accordingly in an attempt to figure out what is going on. Gantz, however, decides to add a little twist to the game; the target to kill has been set as Kei himself.

23 "Kurono Alien" "Kurono seijin!" (玄野星人!) October 28, 2004

The group turn on Kei, suspecting him of being an alien that they must kill. The hobo hunters and Kei's teacher are determined to kill Kei, but others would prefer to talk it out. They turn their guns on Kei, but when being transported, Kei wrestles the gun away from Muroto Hajime, the blue haired hobo hunter. Neon signs on the roof they are transported to change to tell the others that Kei is lying. They begin to hallucinate, seeing Kei as the person who killed them or the person they most fear, and Kei hallucinates to see Katou being killed by the two Hobo hunters. Eventually, one of the men on the roof shoots at Kei, and he runs. They chase him throughout the building, eventually meeting up together in a room when Kei's teacher points a gun at him. Kajimura Ryuji, the older hobo hunter, takes a woman who originally believed Kei hostage and tries to get Kei to surrender.

24 "No Labyrinth is Inescapable!" "Derarenai meikyū wa nain'da!" (出られない迷宮はないんだ!) November 4, 2004

Kei begins to hallucinate once again, seeing Kishimoto in the woman who was taken hostage. When Ryuji drops his gun to whip her, Kei knocks him against the wall and escapes with the woman. When they get away, she tells him that Sakuraoka had earlier given her a book, the one she told Kei that they would pick up together. She tells him that she needs it back as it means a lot to her, so Kei drop her out of window for safety (surviving due to the suit), and runs back to where the two hobo hunters are arguing with the rest of the group. The book shop owner, Furuta, asks Ryuji if he killed the two hobos as Kei had said he had, and he threatens them and inadvertently admits that he did. Muroto lies and claims he had been forced by Ryuji to kill the hobos. Kei jumps in, but Ryuji takes Kei's teacher and flees. Furuta gives Kei the bloodied book he came back for, and they go on in hunt of the two men. The men appear in a cupboard with Kei's teacher hostage. Muroto throws a knife he had been holding on the floor, which Kei's teacher grabs and cuts the face of Ryuki with. He bleeds profusely, but does not die. Muroto then shoots Kei's teacher and escapes.

25 "Let's Go Back Alive" "Ikite kaerō ze" (生きて帰ろうぜ) November 11, 2004

Kurono rescues Mika and returns her book. Many of the other Gantz fighters are taken out, one by one, by Muroto and Ryuji respectively. Ryuji ends up committing suicide after singing the same theme song that Gantz sings, during an attempt to take Kurono with him. Kurono survives and hunts down Muroto, leading to a difficult decision for Kurono about whether or not it'd be right to kill Muroto.

26 "Please Live!" "Ikite kure" (生きてくれ) November 18, 2004

The Final Battle between Kurono and Muroto draws to close, and Muroto's past is revealed. Instead of Killing him, Kurono uses the "Y" gun to have him transported out of the closed off area. Then the time on the Gantz sphere is halted at "5 Seconds". Kurono is transported to a vision of the train station where he and Katou died at the beginning of the anime. The train speeds towards Kuruno whilst his recently deceased friends cheer him on. Kurono tries to outrun the train like before, but stops and realizes he is being given a choice. He says he chooses to live. He turns around, then points a finger like a gun right at the Train as it closes the distance on him, and yells "Bang!" It is unknown whether Kurono had lived or not; following the credits, there is a shot of a train speeding through the empty station, with no-one in sight.

DVD releases[]

The 26 episodes were released on 10 DVD collections. They were also released in two collections containing seasons 1 and 2.

See also[]

References[]

  1. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Gantz Official Site". Gantz.net. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  2. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Gantz (Fuji TV)". Fuji Television. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  3. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Gantz Season 1 Boxset". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
  4. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Gantz DVDs Unedited". Anime News Network. 2004-07-13. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  5. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Second Gantz TV series Announced". Anime News Network. 2004-07-15. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  6. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"全話見るなら「GANTZ BOX 1&2」がお得です!" (in Japanese). Official Gantz website. Archived from the original on 2009-04-14. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  7. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"ADV Releases Gantz Details". Anime News Network. 2004-12-14. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  8. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-06-25/funi-adds-chrono-crusade-gantz-kaleido-star-peace-maker


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